Working with WarmToned Papers
Black-and-white portraits can often be enhanced by printing on a warm-toned paper. Most manufacturers produce a paper that yields significantly warmer tones than those of their Figure 40. This photograph is sharp, but it's rather boring. It doesn't show any of my son's energetic personality. Figure 40. This photograph is sharp, but it's rather boring. It doesn't show any of my son's energetic personality. other papers. Agfa's Portriga is one that comes immediately to mind. For years I printed...
Reciprocity Failure
Exposures at extreme settings, either longer than V2 second or shorter than Vio.ooo of a second, can affect the overall exposure known as reciprocity failure. At times beyond these extremes, most films will be underexposed compared to normal exposure times. These points lie on the shoulder and toe of the film's characteristic curve, i.e., the exposures do not behave in a linear manner. Under normal conditions, you will not have to worry about the faster shutter speeds, unless you are using an...
Graveyard and Church Easton Pennsylvania
In the first series, made in 1993, I was photographing a grave marker with a church in the background. A check with the spot meter revealed a full tonal range with shadows at f 22 and the brightest highlights at f 128, giving me an exposure of f 45 at V8 of a second without a filter I wanted a great depth of field . The film was developed for 7 minutes at 68 F. While my first photo is okay, the sky is a bit lighter than I would like, especially since I chose to shoot from a low angle fig. 50 ....
Why Black and White
Among all photographers professional and amateur black and white accounts for less than 10 percent of the photos that are taken. Why then is it still so popular among serious photographers There are a number of reasons, any one of which you might have discovered for yourself. When I began teaching, I told the students on the first day of class, You are going to learn how to see in black and white. Soon black and white will seem more real than color. A number of the students discounted my...
Shutter Efficiency
Variations in shutter efficiency affect leaf shutters between the lens , such as those found on view cameras or some medium-format cameras. Cameras that use leaf shutters gain efficiency when the aperture is small and the shutter speed is fast. At small apertures, the shutter remains open longer than it needs to be. This is especially a problem at higher shutter speeds, when the film can be overexposed by a stop more than has been set. It usually happens when using fast films under bright light...
Contrast Confusion
Understanding contrast is critical to every step of making a black-and-white photograph. It's important for exposing and developing the film, as well as choosing an appropriate paper on which to make the final print. Yet contrast is often misunderstood or, worse, ignored. The term contrast can refer to several similar but different aspects of photography. Because these aspects are often related, and sometimes dependent on one another, photographers often become bewildered when discussing...
Darkroom Aesthetics
The importance of aesthetics in the darkroom is too often ignored. The nature of the photograph can be changed by the choices a photographer makes in the darkroom, which is why many photographers insist on making their own prints. Although I've dealt with many fine photographic labs, which I wouldn't hesitate to use for commercial work, I still prefer printing my photographs. No one else will interpret them quite like I will. Starting with the choice of film developer and progressing through...
For Carolyn and Todd
We know it's the journey that's more important than the destination. All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan-American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. An imprint of Allworth Communications, Inc. 10 East 23rd Street, New...
Advantages of 35mm
Large- and medium-format cameras are comparable when It comes to controlling film exposure and film developing for creative purposes, often using Zone System methods. Using 35mm cameras to get similar results can be uncommonly hard. Because of widely varied exposures on a single roll of film, and difficulty separating rolls for various developing times each developing time would require a separate camera body for most 35mm cameras , the format is often dismissed for serious work. Perhaps that's...